2014 Research Day

The 8th annual School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences' Research Day was held Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union at UMMC. The all-day event began with an early morning breakfast buffet during poster presentations and ended with Postdoc/Instructor presentations. During the Distinguished Alumni Luncheon, Dr. David Dzielak received the Distinguished Alumni Award.

A native of Syracuse, New York, Dr. Dzielak received an AAS degree from the State University of New York at Delhi and a BS degree from Cornell University. Dr. Dzielak received his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology from theUniversity of Mississippi Medical Center in 1982. He did a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Arthur Guyton in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and in 1984 became a faculty member in that department. In 1986,Dr. Dzielak moved to Columbus, Ohio, to work for Adria Laboratories where he was a Senior Scientist in charge of Cardiovascular Pharmacology. In 1987, Dr. Dzielak returned to the University of Mississippi Medical Center tocontinue his career in academic medicine. In 1998 Dr. Dzielak was appointed to the position of Executive Director of Research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. In 2001, he became the Associate Vice Chancellor forResearch. During this time as Associate Vice Chancellor, federal funding for research at the Medical Center campus quadrupled. In 2005, he assumed the position of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Research Alliances. Dr. Dzielak was instrumental in bringing over $74 million of directed appropriations to the Medical Center to enhance research infrastructure including funding for the newest research building on campus, the Arthur C. Guyton laboratory Research Center.

In January 2012, Dr. Dzielak was named executive director of the Mississippi Division of Medicaid by Gov. Phil Bryant. The Mississippi Division of Medicaid provides healthcare benefits for qualified individuals and last year had an annual budget of $5.35 billion. During his tenure at Medicaid, Dr. Dzielak has overseen the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the most significant healthcare legislation in decades. This legislation required significant changes that affected the eligibility of 65 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries. As a result, the Mississippi Division of Medicaid has seen enrollment in the program grow by more than 57,000 individuals since January 2014. Current enrollment is 771,759, a historic high for the state of Mississippi.